The Grateful Dead (And Friends) - Ace's, Mill Valley, California, March 17, 1975
The Good Ol' Grateful Deadcast recently returned for its twelfth (!) season — and somehow, it's just getting better and better, as all the years combine. A podcast beyond description!
The latest round sees host Jesse Jarnow digging deep into 1975, the Dead's "hiatus" year. (PS: I recently dug much less deep into this era with a quick '75 listening guide over on Aquarium Drunkard.) Not many live shows, but a lot of jamming behind the scenes.
Episode two of Deadcast season 12 focuses in on "Slipknot!" but the overall vision is vast, taking us from enormous San Francisco stadiums to the intimate environs of Ace's, Bob Weir's Mill Valley studio, where the band worked up their new Blues For Allah material. A fascinating listen from start to finish, and one that sent me back to those heavy/heady Ace's tapes — including the famous "Ned's Birthday Jam" on March 17.
Ned is Ned Lagin of "Seastones" fame, of course. "Since it was my birthday I got to call the shots, as it were, and I wanted to jam on a bunch of tunes," Lagin reveals. "David Crosby I called that morning; he had a habit of showing up for some of these jams and rehearsals."
What follows is loose and range-y, naturally, but it's incredibly cool, too, with all kinds of interesting and imaginative moments emerging from the mist. After you've tuned into the Deadcast, tune into this!
Oh and hey: As I mentioned, Prairiewolf had the honor of playing three (count 'em!) east coast gigs with Jesse Jarnow's band Sloppy Heads this past month. And you can hear one of them (via legendary Colorado taper Lance Stack) in its entirety now ... here's Sloppy Heads, Prairiewolf and Organs Obsolete! A beautiful night 'neath the BQE ...
